(8 Jan 2024) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Seoul - 8 January 2024 1. Various of South Korean Defence Ministry briefing 2. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Sung Joon, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Officer: "North Korea has violated the military agreement over 3,000 times and had conducted artillery firing drills over the past three days in waters off the west coast. Therefore, there is no buffer zone anymore. The military won't be responding to every provocation in the vicinity of the western islands by the North and carry out our own firing drills in accordance with our own plan." 3. Wide of briefing 4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Sung Joon, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Officer: (In response to statement by sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, that the artillery firing drill was a deceptive operation that simulated the sound of artillery) "We believe North Korea's statement aimed to strengthen internal solidarity and cause internal conflict in the south through psychological warfare." 5. Wide of briefing STORYLINE: South Korea said on Monday that there was no longer a "buffer zone" with North Korea after Pyongyang fired artillery shells near its sea boundary with the South. Speaking in Seoul, South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Public Affairs Officer Lee Sung Joon said "North Korea has violated the military agreement over 3,000 times and had conducted artillery firing drills over the past three days in waters off the west coast." "The military won't be responding to every provocation in the vicinity of the western islands by the North and carry out our own firing drills in accordance with our own plan," he added. Since Friday, North Korea has fired hundreds of shells near the tense sea boundary. That prompted South Korea to have its troops on border islands fire artillery rounds near the sea boundary in response. North Korea’s military confirmed it used coastal artillery systems to carry out live-firing exercises. It said the drills were part of its military training schedules and the direction of its shells fired didn’t expose any threat to South Korea. The shells launched by the two Koreas fell at a maritime buffer zone they had established under a 2018 military agreement on lowering front-line military tensions. AP video shot by Yong Jun Chang =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected]. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/3220b2de208f4a508da3af8dc66e81c2